Severe Weather: Early March thunderstorm roars through state

The first severe thunderstorms of 2017 in central Minnesota packed a powerful punch with perhaps the earliest confirmed tornado in state history.

The National Weather Service office in the Twin Cities confirmed spotters witnessed tornadoes in Princeton and Zimmerman, east of St. Cloud. The strong line of thunderstorms stretched south to Kansas, producing numerous tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings along its path.

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the earliest confirmed tornado in the spring before Monday was March 18, 1968, occurring north of Truman in south-central Minnesota.

Although the storms weakened by the time they reached much of Cass and Crow Wing counties, the lakes area saw gusty winds, hail and thunder and lightning.

Geoff Grochocinski, meteorologist for the NWS office in Duluth, said severe weather producing tornadoes in early March was "highly unusual." Coupled with a forecast calling for light snow into Monday night and a wind advisory issued for 6 a.m. today, the rollercoaster ride for Minnesotans continues after near record-breaking warmth Sunday.

"These are the first thunderstorm warnings in this area for this year so far," Grochocinski said. "We've started severe weather season for this year."

In the early afternoon, the NWS issued tornado watches for about one-third of the state, including a wide swath of southeastern Minnesota north to Todd, Morrison and Mille Lacs counties.

The sun shined brightly about 3:45 p.m. in Brainerd, when the first storms showed up on radar. The radar indicated a line of storms popping up in western Minnesota and heading northeast. About 4:10 p.m. Monday, thunder could be heard in the distance in Brainerd and clouds overtook the sun.

At 4:45 p.m., the NWS issued a thunderstorm warning for central Crow Wing County. A strong thunderstorm was over Merrifield moving northeast at 45 mph. Winds gusted up to 30 mph with dime-sized hail, downpours and occasional cloud-to-ground lightning expected.

Hail reports from trained spotters and cooperative observers began appearing on the NWS local storm reports shortly before the warning was issued. Half-inch hail was observed at 4:35 p.m. 7 miles northwest of Brainerd. Three miles east-northeast of East Gull Lake, hail measuring at three-quarters of an inch was observed. The spotter noted some hail stones were the size of quarters, although most were smaller.

Echo Journal staff writer Travis Grimler reported at 4:40 p.m., he decided to pull over near Cowboy's in Lake Shore, on the northwestern shore of Gull Lake. Grimler was concerned about his windshield, he said, and added the hail appeared penny-sized.

A trained spotter located 2 miles east-southeast of Nisswa reported the hail event there lasted nine minutes.

Shortly after 4:50 p.m., rain began pouring in Brainerd, heavily at times, although it lasted less than 10 minutes at the Brainerd Dispatch office in west Brainerd.

The Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport recorded .13 inches of rain, although Grochocinski said a spotter near East Gull Lake recorded about a half-inch of rain as a result of the storm.

At 4:59 p.m., the NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning for southeastern Morrison County, when a thunderstorm was located near Pierz. The storm was moving northeast at 35 mph and was capable of 60 mph wind gusts along with nickel-sized hail.

At 5:06 p.m., the sun once again shone brightly in Brainerd while the storms began to heat up to the south. About a half-hour later, the NWS issued a tornado warning for the Monticello area, and 10 minutes after that, a warning was issued for the Princeton area. Southeastern Mille Lacs County was issued a tornado warning at 5:50 p.m. Five minutes later, spotters reported observing a tornado near Zimmerman.

Grochocinski said the NWS office in the Twin Cities would likely send out a storm survey team today to evaluate the damage, observe the storm path and determine the EF level of the tornado.

At the back end of the severe weather was expected light snowfall Monday night, followed by strong winds today.

The strong low-pressure system producing Monday's storms would "result in the potential for very strong winds beginning this evening with a cold frontal passage and continuing through Tuesday evening," the NWS reported in its advisory. "West-southwest winds may gust up to 30 mph initially with the cold frontal passage tonight (Monday), then gusting to 45 mph or greater Tuesday morning and afternoon."

Grochocinski said the Duluth office does not issue wind advisories often.

"It will be getting colder for the middle of the week and remain kind of cold through the rest of the week," Grochocinski said.

High temperatures for the week were adjusted down in the forecast compared to what was expected Sunday, with 20s now expected Wednesday through Friday.

1/2: Traffic slows on the Gull River Bridge Monday on Highway 210 east of Pillager as a combination of heavy rain and hail caused the visibility to drop to near zero. Steve Kohls/ Brainerd Dispatch

2/2: Mist rises from an ice-covered White Sand Lake in Baxter Monday as the sun sets shortly after severe weather moved through the area. Jan Finger/submitted photo